Viable plan forming for Everts Gym

4/22/2019

By Jon Hogue

CIRCLEVILLE - Jon Bialy and Ike Wampler of Bialy Corp want to form a non-profit organization to purchase and rehabilitate the Everts Gym and Industrial Arts wing. They want to work with Dan Coy of Crossroads Church to operate the facility.

Bialy Corp is a local real estate development company which owns over 1100 units in the area. Bialy, the CEO of the group said, “Since I’ve started in real estate back in 2006, we’ve redeveloped non-useful buildings within this downtown, 15 of them. We’ve invested 1.5 million dollars into those buildings, and I’m very happy to say, they are thriving right now.”

Dan Coy is the head pastor at Crossroads Church Circleville. The church is located at 5679 Tarlton Road. The 72 acre campus includes Crossroads Christian Academy (CCA), a private school which teaches kindergarten through 8th grade. Coy said, “When I see a building, I think, how many kids, how many families, how many other cities can we impact with our vision that includes a myriad of things?“

Coy said he would re-open the buildings for education, using this historic site as an extended campus for CCA during the day, and opening the buildings up for community use during the evening. Coy said, “We feel that being in the center of town with everything going on, that we can have a lot of influence with kids that could possibly walk there.”

While Coy and his group were waiting to get in to tour the Everts Gym, a group of kids came up and asked, “Hey can we get into this building.” Coy responded, “Not today.” Coy went on, “As I stood there, I listened to some of their dreams and asked them questions, as you might expect a papa to do, a person whose listening to children a lot, and they had some dreams, and I told them, ‘Man, we’re hoping for the best, and we don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be great, we believe.’ They want a place to go that’s close to them.”

When asked about whether other groups would have an opportunity to use the facilities, Coy said, “We would welcome partnerships that aligned with great truth and principal.” He added, “Partnerships, relationships, are what everything is about.”

Bialy believes his company is uniquely positioned to manage the project to reopen the former school facilities. He said, “There are some key capabilities, within my company, that come into play. I have a senior project manager on staff who has worked with 10’s of millions of dollars in individual projects, so we’ll be able to bring experienced project management to this effort. Bringing properties back into useful usage is one of our core competencies.”

Bialy also talked about his expertise in making decisions about purchasing properties and making sure their long term maintenance is viable. Bialy said, “I can tell you exactly how much and when every major capital expenditure on every one of those units will incur. That is how I want to build and be able to not only get it up to where it needs, but I also want to be able to maintain it for years to come.”

Another thing Bialy wants people to know is that he’s local, and this is a passion project for him. He said, “I was born in this community. I plan to be here the rest of my life, God willing, however long that is. I’m not a speculator. So part of this conversation is, I can renovate and bring a property 100% shiny and ready to rock and roll, but you’ve gotta have a provident; you’ve gotta have the right people in place. This is a community building. That is where Dan Coy, head pastor out at Crossroads comes in.”

Wampler, the CFO at Bialy Corp added, “We’re not interested in any profit. This is totally 100% committed to the community. So in order for us to do that, we have to pursue the grants that are available without any burden.” He continued, “Some of the other organizations that would like to have a place to go, would not be able to afford to upkeep the building and do everything that’s needed to do that. So the pastor is willing, to talk to anyone in our community like that so we can make room so everyone can enjoy.”

Bialy Corp is continuing to do their due diligence in evaluating the property to make sure they understand exactly how much it’s going to cost to repair the building. Circleville City Council saw an influx of interest after Council President David Crawford said they had offered the property to Pickaway Arts and Life Center for $1. The Council decided to take 30 days to re-evaluate all the new interest in the building. Bialy said his proposal is the only financially viable offer given to Council for both the renovation and long term operation of the buildings and that opens it up for community use.